Disingenuous or Unhinged – A Pessimistic View of the Future of Facts

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I find them to be informative and diverse. I have the flexibility of listening at work, on my commute, while working out, etc. I get a wide variety of information from this medium. I have a steady supply of libertarian podcasts (EVC, Tom Woods, Part of the Problem, Jason Stapleton, and more) but I also listen to Glenn Beck, Joe Rogan, Jocko Willink, Upfirst from NPR, Ezra Klein, and Preet Bharara.

One thing you get very good at in listening to this many diverse opinions is the framing each side makes. Sometimes this is conscious and sometimes it is not, but rather a function of world view, input information (meaning the stories and articles this person has consumed), or laziness.

The latter type, typically, does not bother me so much. Obviously, if you are trying to persuade someone of your view, you use the most persuasive language possible. The former type, does bug me. I find it disingenuous and manipulative.

One such example came from a recent “Stay Tuned with Preet” episode. I, obviously, think Preet Bharara is a fool. He worked for the government, he doesn’t understand how the market actually works, and he enforces laws that punish victimless crimes. Clearly, he isn’t my cup of tea. During the episode, he claimed that the recent Mueller indictment of 13 Russians is clear evidence that Mueller being appointed as special counsel is justified.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS.

Last I checked, Mueller was appointed to see if Trump colluded with Russia and now finding out that some Russians bought Facebook ads and tried to hack the elections means the counsel is justified? I think plain as day, Mr. Bharara is very mistaken.

The questions is this: Is Mr. Bharara lying and manipulating his listeners by saying this or is he honestly losing his ability to think critically and skeptically at reason and evidence?

I do not know the answer to this. I tend to think he most likely made an honest mistake. However, this one really bugged me. Perhaps it is because I see thousands of reasons to be critical of Trump (dropping more bombs in one year than Obama, the budget, cracking down on weed, banning bump stocks, etc.) but I found this statement to be particularly irritating. It is a clear example of moving the goalposts.

Mr. Bharara is relatively less unhinged than most people as far left (politically) as he is, but if someone that appears to be as thoughtful as Preet Bharara is still either lying intentionally or unable to see that his logic (or lack thereof) is completely inconsistent I do not see much hope in people agreeing on facts.

Alex classifies himself as a voluntary capitalist. He has worked in finance since graduating University of Chicago in 2016. While his blog may be named after the Chicago School of Economic’s concept of equilibrium, the focus of the blog is peace and Austrian Economics. He writes for fun and to spread the word about peace and prosperity.